6/08/2011

True, authentic worship. It's not about doing what makes me feel good. Although I love to sing praises and often feel God's love being poured over me when I worship, that's not what it's about.

One day as I stood singing in church I thought about how much I would just love, love, LOVE to just sing and pray and worship God all day, every day---and how awesome it will be in heaven to do that. But then I stopped. Because then I heard how selfish that was and how, at least part of the reason I would love to do nothing more than stand in worship is because I like how worship makes ME feel.

Ouch.

Don't get me wrong, we have been made to love and worship God, and we should feel His peace and warmth and joy when we worship. What about the times when the songs aren't ones I like or something else is distracting me during this hour of musical praise?
And what about sacrifice? We don't take our prized possessions(animals) to the priest to have them properly sacrificed anymore---we recognize that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice--He paid the price of our sins so now we are free to go to the Father through Him. BUT---does that mean we are "off the hook?" Is that really IT? We just go about living our lives and get "warm fuzzies" from Jesus when we need it?

No.

Authentic worship means surrender.

Stop and think about what "real sacrifice" and "genuine surrender" mean---in your life. As in, today.

We submit our will. Our plans. It means we get and we live in a way that shows we will never forget that our life is NOT our own. And to our carnal, selfish minds that can be scary because it means that nothing is off limits.

Nothing.

Not our relationships, not the movies we watch, the music we listen to, the gossip we share, the lies we tell (ourselves), the judgments we pass, the food we eat, or the habitual sin(s) we ignore because it's/they are "no big deal." Our thought lives, our careers, the way we spend our time and money, our plans, hopes, dreams… those aren't our own either.

My Life---is not my own.

You were bought for a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use your body. 1 Corinthians 6:20

And apparently, I needed more confirmation and wisdom because I read this yesterday, "When you know a thing, and do it, immediately you know more. Revise where you have become stodgy spiritually, and you will find it goes back to a point where there was something you knew you should do, but you did not do it because there seemed no immediate call to, and now you have no perception, no discernment; at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-possessed. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to go on knowing. The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you work up occasion to sacrifice yourself; ardor is mistaken for discernment." -Oswald Chambers (emphasis mine)

I cannot read the passage above without being reminded of 1 Thessalonians 5 :19---"Do not quench the Spirit."

So what then? What are you still holding on to? Until you're putting it all out there… you're missing out! I want to be used by God and to live in such a way that shows I want nothing more than to be COMPLETELY open to and transformed by Him. I don't want to hold anything back because I don't want Him to keep any of His goodness from me.

I've got stuff He wants me to let go of, and it feels really good to really let Him work and lead the way in molding my heart and life. What are you holding on to? Where have you told God He's off limits? Where is your faith shaky, your trust lacking? There are seasons in life where we come to realize that pruning needs to be done, and my prayer is that we are willing to be immediately obedient in letting Him work wherever He chooses.